Ramses Sanding
Hjortlind's Happy Hundredth
A visit to normally blazing hot Egypt, and it just had to rain the moment Grilled's flight touched down in Cairo. The weather was back to its normal self when the team finally got to The Valley of the Kings stadium in the seaport city of Alexandria, so the players had the queer experience of toiling in broiling temperatures on a still-wet pitch.
Hosts Super Ramses, currently sitting in mid-table in a Division Two league, used a 4-3-3 with no wingers but three out-and-out strikers. They were a real handful for Grilled's three aged defenders, and soon 17 year-old Polish forward Lech Naworski, who cost Ramses over a million bucks just a fortnight ago, realised his potential by dashing by two defenders and feeding fellow teen Jurriaan Koenders to score.
All eyes were on Grilled's Singaporean poacher
Cao Wai-Kin, who had just hours ago been a Saraca Swashbucklers star. His teammates were supplying him with the ball constantly in a concerted effort to gift him a debut goal, and not surprisingly he was tightly shackled. Paullin's hard through ball got slowed by the heavy pitch in the 34th minute and Wai-Kin had a decent kick at it, but he only hit the outside of a post.
Hjortlind would then hijack the show, beginning with a sweet dazzler from some distance outside the box that many would not thought possible under the circumstances. Dutch goalie Jonas Nobbe was stunned by the ferocity of the shot. A crazy spree then broke loose for the Birds in the 43rd minute, beginning with Hjortlind walking the ball in after a piece of wizardry by van Liere.
Paullin then had an assist from Wai-Kin, whom everyone expected to shoot. From the restart the long punt up was quickly returned to the Swiss winger on the left, and a one-touch pass from Jie Siong gave Hjortlind very little to do to complete his hat-trick. In fact he didn't even have to wait for a fourth goal, as Borup's long pass fell right in front of him, and by then he was in that altered state of reality where any old swing at the ball would have brought a goal.
Marcus Liehner might have made one more in first-half extra-time, as he lobbed a short pass to Borup, who volleyed it into the box for Wai-Kin to nod in. His celebrations were stopped by the linesman's flag, however, since the passback meant that several Grilled men, including himself, were offside by the time the ball left Borup's foot.
With Grilled on a rampage, a debut goal just had to come for the new target man, and sure enough two minutes after the restart some silky passes in front of the box opened a way for him to nip in and tuck a grounder in safely. A rather staid goal perhaps, but Wai-Kin was just more than happy to get his name in the books.
Player-coach
Luis Alcántara joined in the fun by knocking a wobbly shot past Nobbe, and Wai-Kin was unlucky to put a tremendous strike over the crossbar before Hjortlind rounded off a terrific game for himself by sidefooting in his 100th goal for Grilled in only 73 appearances.
